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Santa, make mine a marlin

Forget the Sydney to Hobart. Boxing Day marks the start of the game-fishing season. The same currents those yachts ride south carry pelagic fish down the NSW coast. This year is shaping up to be special.

The black marlin have been going crazy in Queensland. The next stop should be Coffs Harbour and, most certainly, South West Rocks. The marlin capital is Port Stephens, but in good years you can catch them within cooee of Sydney, and they reach Bermagui.

With the best small black marlin season in decades over the border, local game fishers are gearing up. It's a sure bet the prized sporting fish will be here soon, if not on Boxing Day then during the January holidays.

Meanwhile, the NSW Department of Primary Industries has announced that all 25 of its fish aggregation devices have been deployed between Tweed Heads and Eden. The FADs are a hot game and sport fishing spot for dolphin fish or mahi mahi.

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When the hot water arrives, all you need to do is pitch a live bait at the FADs at dawn to catch a big dolphin fish. But they're also a hot spot for marlin. Besides catching them at the FADs, we've landed dolphin fish with obvious bill marks on their flanks before. Everything you need to know about the FADs including their locations can be found at www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/fisheries/recreational/saltwater/fads. The best advice I can offer is to arrive first.

More immediately, there's been a good showing of solid kingfish on the inshore reefs including Longy, plus bonito on the troll, and some big tailor and Aussie salmon hanging around the headlands and estuaries.

On the table-fish front, there have been some trophy snapper, a sprinkling of jewfish and oodles of fat flathead. Mind the milling leatherjackets, however, as they will pilfer your gear.

Accomplished anglers will be able to catch a Christmas feast, including blue swimmer crabs and squid.

Hawkesbury highlights centre on school jewfish, flathead on soft plastics and a few crabs upstream. Brisbane Water has jewfish around the bridges as well.

There are plenty of whiting along the beaches for the holidaymakers - live worms are the ticket. Prawns are the other popular target in the coastal lakes and lagoons.

Sydney Harbour is awash with boats. Best bets are the flathead on the flats. Kingfish and squid are hard to find, but there are rumours of hairtail - a winter fish - and fussy Aussie salmon in Rushcutters. Botany Bay has mixed bags of flathead, tailor, trevally and a few kingfish, while Port Hacking has solid whiting.